When you think of the Boston Celtics, you think about Larry Bird, Bill Russell, Red Auerbach, the Big Three of 2008, “now there’s a steal by Bird underneath to DJ he lays it in,” eight-straight titles, 17 overall, etc. Somewhere way down on the list, way way below Kevin McHale, John Havlicek, Reggie Lewis, and even Antoine Walker and Dominique Wilkins (yep, he led the C’s in scoring in 1994-1995), you think of Big Goofy White Guys.

So while most of Boston cursed Danny Ainge for shipping Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to Brooklyn for three number one picks and a pile of garbage that included Kris Humphries, the move made complete sense to me. Except for two inflated seasons for a worthless New Jersey Nets team, Humphries is the protypical big white man at the end of the bench that has become a symbol of Boston basketball pride.

But wait a second now. In the last three games, Humphries has showed a little somethin’ somethin’. He had 10, 11 and 12 rebounds over a three-game span last week (including an 18-10 against the Hawks) and even blocked four shots in a game against the Bulls.

Jared Sullinger has been dinged up, which has opened the door for Humphries to get 20-plus minutes, and when Sully comes back who knows what happens. But if we’ve learned anything about the Celtics frontcourt this season, it’s that Brad Stevens has a penchant for waffling a lil’ bit (remember the Kelly Olynyk-Vitor Faverani madness from earlier this year?).

As long as Humphries is getting time, he might be able to rise above the Big Goofy White Guy tag and produce a little boardage for you. Definitely worth a spot in deep leagues, worth a stream in normal leagues, don’t bother in shallows.

He’s the rest of the best (and not-so-best) that I saw in the paint last week:

Terrence Jones – He’s at it again! On Christmas Terrance gave us the gift of a 21-14-3, but really it wasn’t a gift: It was the beginning of another one of his patented teases. Yes, he followed that with a 20-point outing, and 2.1 blocks over a six-game span. But for every great stat line there was a clunker. There’s a reason why the Rockets haven’t traded for Thaddeus Young (yet?) – Jones is an early-stage Thad, posting close to 10 boards regularly but not really caring if he gets a ton of points or not. That’s what he is for now, but he could eventually blossom into …

Thaddeus Young – Still boarding, not really blocking as much, but the onslaught of 25-plus point games continues. As long as he stays in Philly, he’s a 20-10 threat every night.

Trevor Booker – The good news is that Randy Whitman realized that Booker works harder than Nene Hilario and deserves to start. The bad news is that Booker doesn’t help the Wizards win regardless of how he plays. He had a career-high 19 boards on New Year’s Day, but the Wiz lost to Dallas. If he’s starting in real life, who cares what he does for Washington – he’ll give you big rebounding stats in the land of fake.

Daniel Orton – Deep league special! Rick Mahorn’s long-lost little brother is yet another lab project for Brett Brown and Sam Hinkie. Orton will get minutes off the bench, and he’s an athletic and big enough body to accidently get rebounds and blocks. His big-time snuff sealed a Jan. 2 win against Sacramento, in which he had a modest 5-4-3.

Shawne Williams – Two straight double-digit rebound games last week, including 11 boards and 5 blocks in a blowout loss to the Bucks. He still plays for the Lakers. And Mike D’Antoni is still the coach. Stay away.

Miles Plumlee – After another huge game (22-13-3 against Philly) he had kind of a roller coaster week. He should be OK but the lack of consistency concerns me. When he gets going again I’d try and include him in a trade as a nice secondary piece.

Alexis Ajinca – Monty Williams tried the 7-footer as his starting five and he responded with 17 points, 7 rebounds and a block. He’ll stay in there until Jason Smith comes back, providing double-digit board potential. And it says here that he could compete hard with Smith even after he returns.

Pau Gasol – If you’re a fan of dissing Pau, this is the place you want to visit. He’s just not a Boards-N-Blocks guy. But this week you’ll hear none of that, as at age 33 the elder Gasol has been at his beastliest down low, highlighted by a 26-6-4 against Milwaukee on New Year’s Eve and a monstrous 23-17-3 on Friday against the Jazz.

Anderson Varejao –Andrew Bynum’s insanity is Varejao’s gain. If you saw Bynum’s bed-crapping coming then you had Varejao on your roster, and if you have Varejao on your roster you rejoiced on Jan. 2 when he delivered a line of 18-25-1. He’s averaging 14 rebounds a game over his last seven. What else do you need to know?

Enes Kanter – Back on track with a 16-10-1 against the Lakers. He disappears a lot, but what do you expect when Ty Corbin refuses to start him? Yo Ty. Your team stinks. Start the kid over 500-year-old Richard Jefferson and Marvin Williams. Plus you’re hurting …

Derrick Favors – You think starting a natural power forward at center has an impact on his game? You’re the Jazz. You’re trying to develop Derrick Favors. You’re going nowhere. So why are you making him uncomfortable and limiting his chances of succeeding? And why am I talking like Hubie Brown all of the sudden?

Larry Sanders – As Gary Neal said, he ain’t earning his money. I still feel like he’s a buy-low.

Anthony Davis – The Brow hasn’t been the same since his return. He’s averaging 3.7 blocks in his last four, but hasn’t hit double-digit boards in his last three. No worries long-term, but if you’re relying on him as a horse, you’re getting kinda antsy right now.

Little Big Man of the Week: Ricky Rubio. The 6-4 point guard is known for his dazzling passes, uncanny ability to pick up steals and a crippling inability to shoot. But of late he’s shown some shocking glass-cleaning skills, averaging 7 rpg over his last three, including 9 rebounds in a Dec. 30 win against Dallas.

Well done sir. Well done. I’ve dropped Orton twice in the REL. Paid $17 for him at one point but the DNPs got to me. I’m with you, with consistent playing time he could really surprise. So I threw $7 at Ajinca, which my phone keeps autocorrecting as Angina, in the REL. But if i remember right only me and you were willing to go over $1. What do you think that’s about? I feel like if I can add a new upside play every week I should. I dropped Mike Miller. Not a loss i’m going to miss. He should be owned I guess but he’s for me.

@Slim: Yeah I feel like I should have bumped Ajinca up too, but you still might have beat me at $7. That’s a real good price actually. I guess maybe people feel like Smith is going to come back and re-take the minutes, but I don’t see it. I’m a Sixers fan so I’m as shocked as anyone to see him out there doing anything of value. I have Chris Paul so my REL team is kind of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOMWiOekcBU

@Mike: This is a weird deal where I don’t like it on either side. And so I guess in a weird way I DO like it on either side. Looks like you need a SG more than a PG? If you put a gun to my head I would do it but I’d stay away from it personally.

Sup Pete.. I I’m in a H2H 10 team 9 CAT. Right now I’be been falling offa bit, just players in a slump and having no luck in waiver picks like hicHixson then just picked Taj so I hope he works our but have to many guys I dropped that started blowing up like pierce but anyway I have injuries like Marc Gasol and Eric Bledsoe but the thing it’s I’m still in first place so if I lose bad a couple weeks is not the biggest deal in the world but I know the last thing I need is another injury but I felt like I had to take this deal and I hope you like it. I traded jameer Nelson for Rojan Rondo. From what I hear he’s been dying to play and he’s starting the D league but since w within the month I should have all 3 of these players active.. stupid move or great move??

@Frank White: Coasting is never a good thing, but I think if your lead is secure it could be a good deal. You just need to be able to not get blown out. Maybe find some streamer slots to try and make up for the injuries.

I mean I can’t. The only guy I can stream is hickson. I can’t drop Gasol or Bledsoe. I’m I figured my team would btw ill in a couple weeks I hoe.. rondo should be back this month right?? If he’s hitting the d league

@Draco21: If you can get Unibrow in that deal that’d be toit. He’s kind of a buy low right now too. You are probably not giving enough with Bledsoe-Dirk. Good thinking though. Your bigs need some improvement – what happens if when Henson gets back, is Wright going to show something. Add Henson to that deal if he won’t take it.

@Draco21: Yeah not bad. I’ve been high on Cousins since preseason but I gotta say, I saw him play the Sixers the other night and I can see why he makes people nervous. Fantasy-wise he’ll always be a stud as long as he’s playing, but dude’s a real-life headcase.

Hey Pete. Would you drop mario chalmers for mike dunleavy? Considering how luol deng is being traded out and mario chalmers is dealing with an achilles injury, does it sound right to drop mario chalmers for mike dunleavy?

i like chalmers for steals, assists, and 3s. But dunleavy could provide a bit of that, but could help me in points too. What do you think?

Hey Bud… I can’t believe what I saw when I looked up Rondo’s stats. How does he basically have a point average of 11.5 ass- 7 ft% like 650% and 0.9 3’s!!!!! I can get that off the wire everyday. I thought he was Elite..? Jameer Nelson does better then that. Is this correct and if t is then why would anyone draft him EVER??

I got Marc Gasol n Bledsoe out and I just traded him for Jameer Nelson. The only reason why I did it was because I’m in 1st place and these guys should be back this month AND I thought he was the shit.. Bad Move?? I hope Oladipo takes his minutes

@Frank White: I think you’re OK. And I think you’re right, Jameer is not the future in Orlando, eventually Victor is gonna get his minutes, maybe sooner rather than later. It’s just, as a Rondo owner, I’m getting kind of impatient. Bet that’s how your trade partner felt.

Lol.. That’s how I feel about Gasol. In basketball not one time have they had return dates correct. It’s such BS!! If they say a week it means 3.. They said on Dec 23 that Gasol would be 20 days and he said 10. Either way 20 days well be the 9the and now they said hopefully this month. WTF!! Lol

A healthy Rondo should only score about 12 PPG, a FT% of around .650 however on below average attempts, less than 0.5 a 3PTM per game and 3.5-4.0 turnovers. Those are some pretty bad negatives. The positives though are extremely high. 48% FGs and 5.0+ rebounds from a guard is Elite. 3 straight years of 11+ assists, along with 1.8-2.3 steals is also very much Elite. If you can pair him with a low TO, 3-point specialist who is an above average FT% guy then his negatives aren’t that bad. The beauty of this is that the specialist is really easy to find for cheap. I would rank a healthy Rondo around 35-45 or so I think, a 4th rounder in 12 teamers. Rondo has had trouble staying healthy the last few years and I think that is his biggest negative.

Jameer Nelson has only one major positive. 3 PTM which is currently at a career high. FG% is a drain, FT% isn’t all that effective due to very low attempts. Points are about the same as Rondo. Now comes the real problem for Nelson. Less than 4 boards from a PG. No better than average. 6 assists from a PG is below average. Less than 1 steal from a guard is entirely unacceptable. The turnovers are better than Rondo by about 1 per game. Significant but not life altering and not exactly a positive. Last year at 30 years old Nelson set career highs in Assists, TOs, Boards, Steals, FGs attempted (not good at under 40%), 3-pointers made and attempted, and played a career high 35 minutes per game. Unsurprisingly he subsequently managed to play in only 56 of 82 games. I would rank a “healthy” Jameer Nelson around 100-120 and I would let someone else deal with the inevitable missed games and innumerable trade rumors.

So you probly wouldn’t do it?? I’m so frustrated with West and Tristan only hits 2 CAT’s ya know.. I was gonna grab Henson but I got to many injuries plus Marion out a couple days so I grabbed Dunleavy. I hope Dunleavy gets the minutes

Dude what’s up… I already have Marc Gasol, Rondo, Bledsoe and Reddick out. I just found out that Bledsoe needs surgery and I’m about to lose my mind. What do I do, grab Ish Smith, Christmas, Goodwin or do I grab a guy like Randy Foye, or CJ Miles??

Hey Pete what’s up.. I picked up Dunleavy cause they said he was gonna start since Deng is gone but I just found out that the Bulls are about to trade Henrich and they said Augustin would take his starting job.. Anyway, would you rather have Augustin or Dunleavy??